Your damned if you do and your damned if you dont?

Question

Has anybody tried to learn another language and then when you go there, the natives all hate it when you try and speak their language with them.
and they want you to speak to them in English when you talk! You Dog!

Answer 1

Ain't the damn truth!

Answer 2

Some people (like the French) are very particular about thier language and take it very seriously. They want to correct you, but since we are not used to contorting our mouths and tongues in a certain way with our language, we'll never be able to get it right without much in depth practice.
They would rather you just speak English if they know it, than see you struggle and slowly and painfully massacre their language.

People who don't speak any English at all would rather you know SOME of their language, just at least to give them some hint of what in the world you are talking about.

Answer 3

Sure, it's like that in Italy when the eager teenagers work in the shops and cafes. If you cannot speak as qickly as the natives they just butt in and unfortunately speak better English than most tourists can speak Italian. You get critisied if you don't try and disallowed if you do. Still it's better than some of the French who pretend they do not understand you.

Answer 4

Never had that problem, I speak fluent Italian and always find the Italians very accepting of the way I speak, guess it depends on the people and country you go to.

Answer 5

yeah its another double standard, and I think it's b/c they don't want you knowing what they are saying about you! :)

Answer 6

Yeah, I have been there. They were real jerks.

Answer 7

ok